RIAA Wins Lawsuit Against Usenet.com

DSL Reports ^ | 7/1/09 | Karl Bode

[steve-b]

According to CNET, the RIAA has emerged victorious in their case against Usenet.com for wholesale copyright infringement. Filed back in 2007, the RIAA took particular issue with the outfit's ads promising "access to millions of MP3 files" for the monthly $19 payment. While the advertising was bad enough, the case was made substantially easier for the RIAA thanks to the fact that Usenet.com was destroying evidence on hard drives, often supplying incorrect information -- and even sent several employees to Europe to prevent them from testifying. In a statement, the RIAA lauds the courts for taking action against Usenet.com's "egregious litigation misconduct."

[steve-b]

For once, the RIAA seems to have a legitimate case against infringeers who actually deserves to have the book thrown at them. The Ars Technica story (quoting verboten on FR because of copyright complaint) indicates a systematic pattern of evidence destruction, evasion, and general peeing in the judge's Wheaties.

[Star Traveler]

I was wondering how they could sue “Usenet”... and now I see that they’re not... LOL...

They sued an entity called “usenet.com” which is not the same thing as “Usenet”...

Usenet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet

—

The stuff they were suing about is still there on “Usenet” although the entity “usenet.com” may not be handling it...

[Dr.Deth]

The music and movie industries are transitioning to a new business model to adapt to our changing times. It’s called “lawyer up and sue everybody.” It closely mirrors the Democratic Party.

[the invisib1e hand]

Intellectual-Property-Rights bump and the Bronx Cheer to you libertarians who are so selective in your interpretations of “rights.”

[ShadowAce]

copyfraud ping

[KoRn]

This is going to make some people I know feel a little ill.

[bamahead]

Libertarian ping! Click here to get added or here to be removed or post a message here!
(View past Libertarian pings here)

[bamahead]

For once they seem to have a legitimate gripe.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

While the advertising was bad enough, the case was made substantially easier for the RIAA thanks to the fact that Usenet.com was destroying evidence on hard drives, often supplying incorrect information -- and even sent several employees to Europe to prevent them from testifying.

Whatever the merits of the case, usenet.com was bound to lose once it became known they were destroying evidence. Thankfully, as others have noted, usenet.com is not the Usenet. NNTP forever.

[TexasRepublic]

It’s kind of silly — 99% of the media created in the last 20 years isn’t worth copying anyway.